The present invention relates to hooks for suspending a shower curtain and/or a shower curtain liner from a shower curtain rod and more particularly to such a hook fabricated of molded plastic that includes multiple metal roller bearings and has a self-centering curtain engaging part, and to a method for manufacturing such a hook.
Shower curtains formed of fabric or plastic sheet material and/or shower curtain liners formed of plastic sheet material are suspended by hooks which moveably engage a horizontal shower curtain rod. The hooks include a rod engaging part which is usually arcuate in shape to correspond with the circular cross-sectional shape of the rod. Below the rod engaging part is a part which is received into openings in a shower curtain and/or a shower curtain liner. For simplicity, the term shower curtain as used herein will be used to mean a shower curtain, a shower curtain liner, or both.
Conventional shower curtain hooks are made of metal or injection molded plastic. They are adapted to slide along the surface of the rod to permit the curtain to be moved as required.
In order to facilitate movement of the hook along the rod, bearings in the form of one or more metal round or cylindrical shaped bearings have been rotatably mounted on the rod engaging part of the hook. This can be accomplished by forming a channel through each bearing and inserting the rod engaging part through the bearing channels. The bearings can be adjacent to each other or spaced along the rod engaging part. See, for example, U.S. Design Pat. No. 404,639 entitled xe2x80x9cShower Curtain Ringxe2x80x9d issued Jan. 26, 1999 to Samuel Samelson and U.S. Design Pat. No. 350,279 issued Sep. 6, 1994 entitled xe2x80x9cShower Curtain Ringxe2x80x9d to Richard S. Tate.
When bearings are employed, the rod engaging part must be made of metal because it must be strong enough to hold the weight of the curtain and at the same time must be small enough in diameter to be received within the channels in the bearings such that the bearings can rotate freely. However, hooks made of metal are more costly to manufacture than those made of plastic, as they must be fabricated from rust resistant metal to prevent rusting in the high moisture environment in which they are designed to function.
The present invention relates to a hook with rust resistant metal bearings that overcomes the high cost of utilizing a metal body and of forming channels through the metal bearings. This is achieved by utilizing a two-part plastic injection molded hook body with roller bearing cavities formed therein. After the body parts are formed, the roller bearings are inserted into the cavities and the parts are joined. The result is a hook that is much less expensive to fabricate and assemble than conventional metal roller hooks.
It is, therefore, a prime object of the present invention to provide a roller shower curtain hook fabricated of plastic with internal cavities formed to receive rust resistant metal ball bearings which is relatively inexpensive to manufacture and simple to assemble.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a roller shower curtain hook with a self-centering curtain receiving part which aligns the curtain along the centerline of the hook passing through the center point of the rod engaging part.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method of manufacturing a roller shower curtain hook in which the plastic rod engaging part is formed of arcuate sections with bearing cavities and means for joining the sections, which is easy to assemble by placing the bearings in the cavities, aligning the sections and joining them together.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, a shower curtain hook is provided for use with a curtain rod. The hook includes a molded plastic rod engaging part and a curtain receiving part. A roller bearing is provided. The rod engaging part is adapted to be situated proximate the rod. It includes a cavity adapted to rotatably receive the roller bearing.
Additional cavities in the rod engaging part section are adapted to receive additional roller bearings. The additional roller bearing receiving cavities are spaced from and located on either side of the first cavity.
Preferably, the rod engaging part is arcuate. The roller bearing cavity is concave.
The curtain receiving part includes first and second oppositely inclined portions.
The hook also includes a part connecting the rod engaging part and the curtain receiving part. The connecting part is substantially parallel to the first inclined portion of the curtain receiving part.
The hook has a centerline. The rod engaging part defines a recess with a center point. The centerline passes through the center point and the junction of the first and second inclined portions of the curtain receiving part. Preferably, the junction of the rod engaging part and the connecting part is also situated along the centerline.
The rod engaging part is formed of two sections. Each of the sections defines a portion of the first cavity. Each of the sections also defines a portion of each of the additional cavities.
Means are provided for joining the sections to each other. Preferably, the joining means takes the form of friction engagement means. Preferably, one of the sections is integral with the remainder of the hook.
Preferably, the sections are arcuate in shape.
In accordance with another object of the present invention, a method for fabricating a shower curtain hook with a roller bearing is provided. The method includes the steps of forming the hook with the rod engaging part in two separate sections. Each section defines a portion of a roller bearing receiving cavity. The roller bearing is inserted into the cavity portion in one of the sections. The sections are positioned such that the cavity portions align. The sections are joined together to complete the assembly.
The remainder of the hook is integral with one of the sections.
The hook also includes a curtain receiving part. The step of forming the hook includes forming the curtain receiving part integral with one of the sections.
The sections are joined by friction engagement means which include a protrusion extending from one of the sections and a protrusion receiving recess on the other of the sections.
The hook is adapted for use with multiple roller bearings. The step of forming the rod engaging part includes forming each section with a portion of each of multiple roller bearing receiving cavities. The step of inserting comprises inserting a roller bearing into each of the cavity portions.